


Lost and Not Found

by HannahKotoba



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Past Relationship(s), Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-28 07:52:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17178854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HannahKotoba/pseuds/HannahKotoba
Summary: “I get it, you’ve always been empathetic. I like that about you. It’s cute. And really, I don’t mind having to be the one who kills the spider.”





	1. May's side

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place some time before the main plot of ITSV, during which May knows Peter's identity and Liv is not yet working for Alchemax. The relationship between Liv and May is left a little vague, but it's clear they have history together. First part focuses on May and Peter's perspective, whereas the second part focuses on Liv.

Okay, so he’d  _really_ screwed up on this one. Peter’s hands grabbed uselessly at the tentacle currently squeezing his neck, the rest of him attempting to squirm out of the firm grasp of his nemesis to no avail. “Looks like your web had a few holes in it,” Ock quipped, a sickening grin on her face.

And then, there was another voice that rang out clear as day, and it made Peter’s heart drop into his stomach. “Liv?” He was thankful that his mask hid his expressions, because if the ever-ruthless Ock realized how much his sweet Aunt May meant to him, she wouldn’t hesitate to use that as leverage-

Only, Ock also looked like she had just been splashed with cold water. Pinning Peter to the wall (though she thankfully stopped choking him for the moment), she turned around to face the woman standing on the ground. “May.”

“Put him _down_ , Olivia.” May’s voice was firm, but passionate. If Peter weren’t simply thankful for being able to breathe again, he’d be shocked and confused at how familiar she was speaking- but that was a question for a moment that wasn’t life-or-death.

“Oh, May.” Ock gave a bizarrely sweet smile, pushing her goggles up with one of her real hands, and lowered herself towards the ground, grip on Peter loosening further (though a bit of wiggling and testing found he was still very much trapped). “I get it, you’ve always been empathetic. I like that about you. It’s cute. And really, I don’t mind having to be the one who kills the spider.”

“He’s not a _spider_ , he’s just a _boy_!” She was shouting now. “Look at yourself, Liv! Is this really who you are?” Though Ock’s back was turned to him, Peter could read the hesitation in her body language, especially in her tentacles, beginning to droop-

_That’s it_. Aunt May was giving him a distraction.

Peter angled himself carefully, then slid out from under Ock’s tentacles, webbing them to the brick as he left. She whipped back around at that, face melting back into the terrifying fury that he was much more familiar with (though it somehow felt even more raw without the goggles between them). As he put some distance between him and Ock, hoping to get May out of there before something worse happened, she pulled and yanked and managed to get herself free (he’d need to practice his aim under life-threatening circumstances some more).

As he prepared for yet another entanglement, though, Aunt May launched herself in front of him, standing protectively in a “you’ll have to go through me” stance. No, no, what was she _doing_?! Ock was a monster, attempting to appeal to her humanity was going to just put them both in danger-

And yet, Ock stopped herself just short of May with impressive precision. “Now, don’t be like that,” she cooed, a sickeningly sweet look on her face. “I know you’re just being nice, but sometimes things have to get done for the greater good. Just step aside, I’ll make it painless.” One of her tentacles made a squeezing motion to accent the point.

But May stood firm. In her eyes was a passion and ferocity that Peter himself had only seen a couple of times in his life. “Olivia.” Despite the fact that Ock was hovering a good foot above her, May looked as if she was staring her down eye-to-eye. “If there’s even a shadow left of the woman I knew, you’ll stop this and go home. _Please_.”

There was that hesitation in her face again, a look Peter had never seen on her before (and he’d had plenty of run-ins with this face). She was faltering, off her guard. This was his chance to get his aunt out of here. 

“I-” But before Ock could finish her sentence, Peter had webbed her to the ground. It wouldn’t hold for long, but it would be long enough for him to get May to safety, and right now, that was his number one priority. As Ock howled in fury, tentacles thrashing futilely against his webbing, Peter scooped up his aunt and swung out of there, not daring to look behind him.

* * *

It took longer to get home than usual, Peter not taking any chances of being followed, but they managed to arrive at May's house unscathed. Once they were in the door, he put his hands on her shoulders, looking her up and down. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine, Peter,” May protested with a smile. “Just shaken. I'm not as used to web swinging as you are.”

“Sorry about that, it's quicker than walking,” he joked in response. May collapsed onto the couch, and Peter followed after her. “You never told me you know Doctor Octopus.”

May made a displeased face. “Don't call her that. Her name's Olivia.”

“Yeah, but it would be kinda weird to be on first name basis with my archenemy. Besides, in my defense, she calls _herself_ that.”

“She does? She used to _hate_ that nickname…” May's face fell slightly. “But, she's changed.”

“No kidding.” Peter pulled his mask off, running a hand through his hair. “You guys used to be friends?”

“More than friends,” May admitted. “I even helped her with her first build of those arms. Of course, things were different then. _She_ was different then.”

Peter could recognize that thoughtful look on her face; better turn off the jokes for now. Instead he nodded to indicate he was listening.

“Liv had the most brilliant mind of anyone I'd ever met,” she continued. “There was this spark in her. She always said we'd change the world together, and back then, it felt true. Working with her… It was one of the best things I'd done, at least by that point.”

The slight nostalgic smile slipped off her face. “But it didn't last. Liv's ambitions outgrew her. She got reckless with her experiments. I tried to reason with her, but at some point… Well, I had you and Ben to think about.” A smile again. “I'm just thankful she didn't hold that against me… she could be a bit _possessive_. Never did like your uncle, either.”

“How come you never told me any of this?”

“I didn't think it was relevant,” May said with a shrug. “I hadn't heard from her in _years_ , I had no reason to think it'd come up. If I'd known you two were fighting like that…” She sunk into the couch slightly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “How long has she… Have you two been fighting?”

“About a year,” Peter offered. “You said you worked on her arms, right? Any tips or weaknesses?”

“That was _years_ ago,” May answered, sounding tired. “The ones she was using today go way beyond anything the two of us came up with back then. I'd be impressed if not for her trying to hurt you with them.”

“Yeah, she's pretty smart when she's not trying to kill me,” Peter concurred. He was a big fan of science and tech himself, after all, and if she wasn't so… _evil_ , he could see the two of them getting along.

The two of them sat in silence for a long moment, processing. Eventually, May let out a soft breath. “Peter. Do you think there's any hope for her? That she might become good again?”

Peter grimaced; that was a tough one, and he didn’t think May would like the answer. “If you asked me yesterday, I wouldn’t have thought so. But I’ve never seen her react like that before. Maybe you got through to her.”

“I hope so.” May nodded her head. “Liv had… good _intentions_ , just not always good _methods_. But that mind of hers could change the world for the better. Next time you fight her...”

“I’ll try,” Peter agreed. No matter how his enemies were to him, Peter was an optimist, and believed everyone deserved a second chance. And if Ock-  _Olivia_ \- had once been a good person, maybe she could reform.

It was worth a shot, at least.


	2. Liv's side

Normally, Olivia would have given chase when Spider-Man got away, or returned to the lab to lick her wounds and repair her arms. But right now, she didn’t feel like doing either of those things. It felt like the wind had been sucked out of her. Sure, it had been a long time since she and May were together, but she had always held it as a fond memory. She hoped she could show off her improved arms, one day, and that May would be impressed, _proud_.

But that reaction certainly wasn’t pride.

Her arms retracting back into her suit, she turned to head back to her apartment, disregarding what her bosses might say about it. What could they do about it, anyways? Fire her? It wasn’t as if they could put out a “help wanted” ad for “genius physicist who is willing to break laws”, and certainly no one else working on the project would be able to complete it. That was one thing she had going for her: there was no one else both able and willing to take her place.

Her arms detached themselves once she got home, hanging themselves up on the wall (a recent feature, but one she was proud of). Olivia didn’t even bother to change, instead falling face-first onto the bed, glasses digging into the bridge of her nose.

She’d really screwed up on this one.

Sure, she’d been dancing on the edge of morality for a while, but it was all for a good cause, in her mind. Everyone’s time on this planet was short, and hers even more so; using less-than-legal activities on the side acted as a sort of cheat code to let her progress in her research much quicker than she would if everything went by-the-books. It was a distasteful position to be in, but she could leave it once she had what she needed.

That’s what she had thought, at least. But the look on May’s face pierced her armor: like always, May challenged her preconceptions. She had tried to keep a layer of separation between her research and her ‘side job’, as she thought of it, but she had to face the truth that there was no separation. As far as anyone else was concerned, Dr. Olivia Octavius and “Doctor Octopus” were the same person.

And May, sweet, caring May, would never fall back in love with Doctor Octopus. Not after today. Not in this timeline.

Wait.

_That was it._

Olivia shot back up in her bed, scrambling for her laptop. _That was it._ Sure, she had ruined the life she had in _this_ timeline; but there were infinitely more timelines out there, including some that hadn’t been tainted. And if anyone could figure out how to cross the universes, it was her.

As if trying to rub salt in her wounds, her laptop popped up an image of “this day in your history”, of her and May with their arms (real, flesh-and-blood arms) around each other, grinning in front of the joint project they went on to win an award and be featured in the newspaper for. And yes, it stung. It stung that she couldn’t get that back. But what she _could_ do was move forward. 

In a way, it was almost a relief to declare this timeline as ruined. She didn’t have to worry about keeping her hands clean anymore; she’d be starting with a clean slate in the new universe, so anything done in this one was irrelevant. All she had to do was make sure she survived and found a way to the next one.

Time to get started.

* * *

Giving educational lectures was _not_ Olivia’s favorite part of her chosen field. If anything, it was close to her _least_ favorite part. Still, she needed a way to put herself out there, and a way to pay the bills, and this thankfully filled both of those needs without putting herself at too much risk delving directly into the city’s underbelly.

At least one person had been listening, though, and as she returned backstage to gather her things, she was suddenly face-to-chest with her next opportunity. This man was to most humans what a double decker bus was to a smart car, and his slow claps made the very room seem to shake.

Olivia refused to be intimidated. “Can I help you with something?”

“Great speech out there,” the man drawled in a voice that sounded like a mobster from an old monochrome film. “Fantastic, even. Had me on the edge of my seat.” He rose up from his chair (somehow gaining even more height) and held a hand out to her. “Wilson Fisk. Fisk Industries.”

Olivia, who had been reaching to meet his hand with her own, recoiled a bit, her hand instead retracting to adjust her glasses. “ _The_ Fisk Industries? As in, the company that just bought Alchemax?”

“The very same,” the man confirmed with a rather satisfied smirk. “See you’ve heard about us. But this is the first I’ve heard of you, and I gotta say, I’m impressed. That’s a high bar, by the way, to impress me, it doesn’t happen that often. Anyway. Wanted to ask ya a few questions.”

“Of course,” Olivia replied almost too quickly, hands now moving to smooth out her coat, anything to keep her calm. His size wasn’t intimidating, but the prospect of being backed by Alchemax was virtually too good to be true, and it left her flustered. “I’d be happy to answer.”

“Great.” Seeing as she had yet to take his hand, Fisk retracted it. “First question. About those alternate universes out there. Say somebody died in this universe. Could you find them in another one?”

“Yes, since there are infinite possible universes out there, that would include a universe in which whatever caused their death never happened.” He really was laying all his cards out on the table, huh? Forward. She liked it. It meant a lot less probing for her.

“And ‘s there a way you could bring those ones you find over into this one?”

“Well, most of my work is theoretical right now,” Olivia did her best not to stumble over her words, “but with the correct equipment, I do believe that contact could be established with other parallel dimensions, including cross-dimensional travel. Certainly, building a machine like that would be time-consuming and expensive, but-”

“What do ya know, I got plenty of time and money on my hands.” He leaned forward in a way that would probably menace most people. “Here’s an oddball for ya. How do ya feel about Spider-Man?”

Olivia’s glasses caught the light of the room as she tilted her head down, the glare obscuring her expression. “Biologically, he’d be fascinating to study, but as for his actions… I’m not his greatest fan.”

Fisk’s grin widened. “You and me both. Alright, one last one. How much are ya gettin’ paid?” Before Olivia could give her standard response of how she was between projects at the moment (not technically a lie), he added, “I’ll double it.”

Olivia’s brain, for once in her life, scrambled to catch up with the situation. A high-paying job at Alchemax, working on the project she had been dedicating her life to, had just fallen into her lap by chance. No, there had to be a catch.

“A generous offer,” she replied coolly, “but I’d need to know more about the parameters of your project. What is the end goal you’re hoping to accomplish?”

“Spider-Man took something important to me.” Her eyes caught on Fisk’s wedding band, which he adjusted unconsciously as he spoke. “I want it back. And I need someone who can help me take it.”

_That_ made her smile.

“It sounds like you and I have something in common.” And out from the bottom of her coat snaked out several tentacles. Three of them propped up against the ground, raising her up to eye level with the massive man before her, as the fourth stretched forward in offering. Fisk barely reacted except to nod at her impressive display.

“Sounds like it.” Fisk took the tentacle with his hand and shook it. “This feels like the start of somethin’ beautiful, Doctor…”

“Octavius,” she provided. “Olivia Octavius.”

“Right.” There was a glint in his eye that matched the one in her own. “Welcome to the team, Doc Ock.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to hop on the "Ock and May are exes" train, that's where all the cool kids are. I realized halfway through the second half that it makes Liv's motivations re: the Collider almost too similar to Fisk's, but at that point I just rolled with it. Thanks for reading!


End file.
